06.11.18
Anti-Fraud Workshop for Small Businesses—10 No-Cost Ways to Reduce Financial Fraud Risk
Tammy Allen, Director, Marketing Communications & Programs – The NIIC
Each year United States businesses lose over $1 Trillion of revenue due to fraudulent accounting practices and embezzlement. Small business owners are invited to attend an anti-fraud workshop to learn 10 No-Cost Ways to Reduce Financial Fraud Risk. “Financial fraud closes companies, eliminates jobs, and damages the perceived integrity of the U.S. market. If we can prevent one company from experiencing this, our workshop will be a huge success,” said Abigail Grenfell, MBA, CFE, CIA, CPA, President, Internal Control and Anti-Fraud Experts, LLC.
Grenfell, a forensic accountant with a proven track record of felony convictions and guilty pleas, developed this small business workshop specifically for The NIIC and The Innovation Connector to help raise business owner fraud risk awareness. The workshop will be offered twice on Thursday, June 21, first at The NIIC, 7:30 a.m. – 10 a.m. (7:30 a.m. to 8 a.m. open breakfast, 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. workshop), and then at The Innovation Connector, 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. (11:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. open lunch, 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. workshop). There is no charge to attend the workshop, and registration is required. Seating is limited.
“So many different professionals, including those in the for-profit and non-profit sectors, may benefit from attending this workshop. CEOs, CFOs, business leaders, finance professionals, non-profit leaders, senior leadership at churches, etc. are all welcome to attend. We are offering this workshop as part of our moral obligation to our community. We want them to succeed and not be part of that annual statistic of U.S., annual revenue lost due to fraud,” said Leslee Hill, Director, Women’s Entrepreneurial Opportunity Center (WEOC).
“Fraud begins small. By the time it’s discovered, it has grown substantially. Small businesses are at greatest risk. They can lack segregation of duties or staff qualifications to monitor for fraud and the abnormal activities that enable it—which may appear normal on the surface. This workshop will help business owners recognize warning signals of fraud. We’re happy to see the NIIC present this as a topic and excited to help underwrite it,” said David O. Cole, CPA, CRFAC, CVA, CDFA, CGMA, Haines, Isenbarger & Skiba, LLC, workshop sponsor.
This workshop is powered by WEOC, The NIIC, Innovation Connector, Internal Control and Anti-Fraud Experts, LLC, and Fort Wayne SCORE. It is sponsored by Gibson; Haines, Isenbarger & Skiba, LLC; PNC Bank, and The Thompson Group.
About WEOC—The Women’s Entrepreneurial Opportunity Center (WEOC) serves as a resource center and business growth accelerator for women and underserved entrepreneurs in Northeast Indiana. In October 2017, the name changed to Women’s Entrepreneurial Opportunity Center to more accurately reflect what WEOC does. WEOC is funded in part through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration. Host organization The NIIC also provides funding and supplemental and complementary resources for WEOC, an SBA designated Women’s Business Center—one of two in Indiana. WEOC serves women at all stages of their business ventures. WEOC responds to the unique needs of women entrepreneurs through business growth coaching, training and entrepreneurial education, connectivity and access to capital. For more information, visit www.inweoc.com.
About The NIIC—The NIIC is a non-profit, vibrant entrepreneurial community. We help business builders and entrepreneurs launch and grow successful business ventures. We are located in a designated U.S. Small Business Administration HUB Zone, and in April 2018, Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb designated The Northeast Indiana Innovation Park Campus as an Opportunity Zone through the U.S. Treasury. Formed in 1999 by a consortium of community and government leaders and organizations in 2013, The NIIC was recognized by Entrepreneur magazine as one of the top four under-the-radar incubators in the country. This basically means Entrepreneur magazine, with the help of International Business Incubation Association, picked four U.S. incubators to highlight, and we were one of them. In their words, we “stand out in a state not always perceived as small business friendly.” The NIIC is the country’s only ISO9001: 2008 registered business incubation and acceleration program. https://niic.net/.
About Innovation Connector—The Innovation Connector exists for one purpose: to help new entrepreneurs with truly unique business ideas turn their dreams into a reality. Our mission, vision, and guiding principles explain exactly what we do and why we do it. Our mission is to support and accelerate the creation of successful technology based and emerging companies in order to improve the economy of Muncie and east central Indiana. Our vision is to be a dynamic business incubation center which is recognized as a major contributor to the economic vitality of our area.
About Internal Control and Anti-Fraud Experts, LLC —Internal Control and Anti-Fraud Experts was formed over 10 years ago with the specific intent to assist public reporting companies with their required internal control compliance and reporting requirements in a cost-effective manner. The company quickly expanded to offer internal control assistance to privately held companies and developed a full range of forensic accounting and litigation support services for all companies. With an emphasis on business process efficiency, ICAFE-MN has enabled numerous small and medium-sized companies to reduce their fraud risks, comply with reporting requirements, and improve efficiencies while decreasing overall operating expenses.
About Fort Wayne SCORE—Fort Wayne SCORE provides Northeast Indiana with the professional advice and tools to help businesses thrive. This includes offering free business mentoring, business workshops, and numerous templates and tools to help individuals start or grow a business. SCORE offers four branches in Indiana, including Fort Wayne, Angola, Kendalville, and Warsaw. The organization recently relocated the downtown Fort Wayne brand to The Northeast Indiana Innovation Center (The NIIC), 3201 Stellhorn Road. Fort Wayne SCORE telephone and email addresses remain unchanged. For more information about SCORE, visit https://fortwayne.score.org/ or call 260-422-2601.
